In the case Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. and Johnson & Johnson v. Joe Keys et al., thirty-seven plaintiffs filed a civil personal injury lawsuit in the Smith County Circuit Court, alleging injuries from the drug Propulsid. The defendants included Janssen Pharmaceutica, its parent company Johnson & Johnson, multiple pharmacies, and two Mississippi physicians. The plaintiffs asserted four causes of action: strict liability, negligence, breach of warranties, and misrepresentation/fraud.
Janssen argued that the plaintiffs were misjoined, prompting the Smith County Circuit Court to deny their motion to sever the claims and transfer venue, which led to an interlocutory appeal. The Supreme Court of Mississippi, referencing a prior decision (Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc. v. Armond), reversed the Circuit Court's decision. The Supreme Court ordered the trial court to sever the claims against the physician defendants and the pharmacies and to transfer the cases to appropriate venues.
The Court clarified that its review standard regarding plaintiff joinder and venue correctness is to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion. A plaintiff's choice of venue should only be disturbed when lacking credible support. The Court emphasized the importance of balancing judicial efficiency with fairness, cautioning against overwhelming jurors with excessive information that complicates their ability to fairly assess each defendant's liability.
The jury may be overwhelmed by thirty-seven distinct fact patterns presented to establish malpractice, necessitating the severance of claims against defendant physicians, as established in the precedent case Armond. Rule 20 requires that specific criteria be met for joinder, and while not a distinct factor, the potential for undue prejudice to the parties is a significant consideration. Consequently, mirroring the Armond case, the claims against the physician defendants and pharmacists must be severed. The trial court's order is reversed, and the case is remanded for severance of claims against defendants unrelated to each plaintiff. This includes all physicians and pharmacists who did not prescribe or provide Propulsid to the individual plaintiffs. The trial court is also instructed to transfer the cases to jurisdictions where each plaintiff could independently bring their claims. The decision is reversed and remanded, with concurrence from several justices and dissent from one without a written opinion. Some justices did not participate in the decision.
